Mortal Instruments in 9th Grade Vocabulary
by The Huntress of the Moon
Summary: In 9th grade, we were required to write short stories every week using 10 different vocabulary words each time. I decided to post some of my Mortal Instruments stories. No spoilers, just need to have read CoB
1. Chapter 1

**A/N In 9th grade, we were required to write a vocab story every week using the new vocabulary that we received every Monday. I wrote quite a few about the Mortal Instruments, and my friends all suggested that I post them on fanfiction, so here goes. This particular one-shot occurs sometime in City of Bones. The 10 words we were required to use are underlined, and their meanings are provided at the bottom. As always, please review, whether you liked it, loved it (:D), or (hopefully not) hated it. :)**

**Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns the Mortal Instruments series, the ideas, and the characters. I only own the actions and words that were not explicitly described in the books. **

* * *

The Sandwich

_A tale of deceit and treachery._

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Clary said as the Institute's elevator creaked around them. "I mean, making up lies about his _sister_? Simon looked like he was about to explode. Just wait until he finds out you were lying -"

"_I_ was lying?" Jace queried, an all-too-innocent expression on his face. "What about you, telling him that you had Tisch classes the night that St. Javier's had a dance, and he asked you to go with him? And you came here instead? That's deceitful, fictitious, heartbreaking treachery." He rattled off each description of the magnitude of her betrayal with the appropriate solemnity, Clary thought, of one that was attending the funeral of an individual that he secretly loathed.

"It is _not_," Clary protested, ignoring the flush of heat in her cheeks.

"You're right," Jace agreed magnanimously. "It's just plain devious. You were probably just trying to get _me_ to ask you instead -" He broke off as the elevator came to a noisy halt, wrenching open the golden doors and allowing her to exit first.

"Why - why in the world would I want you to ask me?" Clary spluttered, trying to sound convincing. Jace waggled his eyebrows at her as they walked to the kitchen. Blushing again, she decided to go back to the original, much safer, topic. "Well, regardless, it's not like you're the very soul of veracity, anyways, so you're being a bit of a hypocrite," she said as she opened the kitchen door.

"I am not a hypocrite," Jace declared indignantly, rummaging through the refrigerator. "See, my tormented inner self -" Clary struggled not to roll her eyes; any explanation from Jace included at least one mention of his tormented inner self, as well as an aria of praise for his 'naturally stunning' outer self – "is full of everything that an exceptionally-above-average angst-ridden teenage boy is. So, naturally, I am mendacious; I am deceptive; I am a reputable master of all forms of duplicity – by the _Angel_, what is this?" He broke off, horrified, gingerly clutching a glutinous mass of noodles, ketchup, and peanut butter that had been nesting menacingly in the fridge.

"Isabelle," they both groaned simultaneously. Jace discarded the quivering hunk of whatever-it-was into the garbage, shuddering.

"Anyways," he continued, "If I'm truly that guileful on the inside, but overtly masqueraded myself to be – what did you call it? – the 'very soul of veracity' on the outside; now, _that_ would truly be hypocritical, wouldn't it?"

Clary sighed, ready to just let the subject drop – as she was prone to do after any verbal onslaught from Jace – when he added, a trifle maliciously, "And Simon the Rat is just so gullible, anyways."

"He is not!" Clary felt that she was at least obligated to protest when her best friend was insulted behind his back – even though what Jace was saying was probably true.

"Yes, he is," Jace drawled, having successfully located two sandwiches – without cucumber – for himself and Clary. "I told him once that 'If you say 'orange' in a British accent, it sounds like gullible'. And the little rat straightened up from his hunch – you know how he has an appalling posture in comparison to -" he waved a hand at himself loftily, "magnificent me, and repeated, 'Orange. _Or_ange. _Orange_.' What do you call that?" Jace gestured at her with the hand holding the sandwich, with an expression as if saying, _Well, obviously. Gullible!_

Clary smiled widely at him. "A sandwich."

* * *

**The words and their meanings:**

**Devious (adj) - meant to trick; departed from accepted course**

**Duplicity (n) - deliberate deception**

**Fictitious (adj) - false; fake; imaginary**

**Guile (n) - sly intelligence; craftiness**

**Gullible (adj) - easily fooled**

**Hypocritical (adj) - saying one thing, doing another**

**Masquerade (v,n) - to disguise oneself; a disguise**

**Overt (adj) - open and observable**

**Reputable (adj) - having a good reputation**

**Veracity (n) - truthfulness or accuracy**

**Please review! It would make my day :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! As promised, here is the second chapter! Again, the 10 vocabulary words are underlined and their definitions are given at the bottom. I also wanted to thank everyone who read it for taking the time to do so, and I want to especially thank the people who reviewed the previous chapter. I can't tell you guys how happy those reviews, and seeing how many people had read it, made me. I know this chapter is short, so to make up for that I put more fluff in, and hopefully the next few chapters will be longer and updated earlier :)**

**Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns the Mortal Instruments series, ideas, and characters. ****I only own the actions and words that were not explicitly described in the books.**

* * *

Painting

_The 'pain' in 'painting' is there for a reason._

With painstaking effort, Clary dabbed the last blotch of gold onto her painting. Chewing her lip, she regarded it critically. She thought that perhaps she could have painted the delicate wings with a bit more finesse.

"Drawing me again, I see," an all-too-familiar voice said, startling her. "You're getting quite adept at it; this is the – what, fifth time?" Jace smirked, snatching her sketchbook out of her hand and eyeing himself. "My hair is more of a magnificent tawny gold than this dandelion yellow, by the way," he added.

Clary flushed, unsuccessfully trying to reclaim her sketchbook. "That's not dandelion yellow. It's a mixture of marigold and saffron yellow, infused with -"

"How very… astute of you," he interrupted, as if he was thinking of another, less complimentary, adjective. He moved on quickly, still holding the sketchbook out of her reach, at a height where she, sitting, could not reach it, but he could inspect the painting. "I appreciate the angel wings. You know, this painting could quite possibly be the acme of your artistic career. Finally, someone understands the divineness that is me."

"You should hang it in your room so you can always be reminded of what you aspire to be, but will never reach," Clary suggested drily.

Jace raised an eyebrow. "If I wanted to see an image of rapturous perfection, I could just look in a mirror. I wouldn't need a painting to show me anything. The good Lord hath dealt me with a chiseled Hand."

"The good Lord should have dealt you with a hammer and wrecking ball," Clary muttered crankily, giving up on getting her sketchbook back from Jace.

"Nonsense," Jace replied jovially. "Why would our most resourceful Lord and Father destroy His greatest creation?"

"To save mankind."

"As if. Maybe I should be referred to as 'nature's crowning glory'? That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Jace set down the sketchbook and grabbed her dictionary, which she kept in a pile of other useful books on her desk. He flipped through it, stealing a piece of paper from her desk and started scribbling titles down. "Precocious, hm, that's a nice word. Prodigy." He looked at Clary, who had seized her sketchbook and was now meticulously avoiding looking at him and studying a suddenly fascinating scribble on the opposite side of her desk. "Do you think I'm a prodigy?"

"Not in the slightest," she replied swiftly.

"I think I am," he continued unconcernedly, writing it down as if he hadn't heard her. "I'm the best Shadowhunter you've ever seen, and you know it." He tapped her chin with the end of the pencil.

Swatting at the pencil, Clary scooted her chair away from him. "I haven't seen many Shadowhunters, so that's not a good point of comparison."

"Quibbling. What other words describe me?" He turned to the last few pages, skimming for a word that adequately praised him.

"Annoying?" Clary offered. "Irritating? Vexatious?"

Jace's eyes lit up. "What about a virtuoso?"

Clary scoffed. "Can you even draw?" she asked skeptically.

"Sure I can. I have a natural aptitude for it, as with just about everything," Jace replied, sounding miffed that she could even doubt his artistic ability.

"How about you draw a straight line for me, then we'll see?" Clary suggested. Accepting the challenge eagerly, Jace started drawing one, his brow creased in concentration. Clary sighed, glancing down at his line.

"It's crooked," she commented off-handedly. "Like your soul."

As if pleased that she had the last word, she clutched her sketchbook and her pencils and retreated in a dignified manner to some other part of the Institute, so that Jace couldn't see how mortified she felt that he had seen her drawing of him.

In her haste to leave, she didn't realize that Jace had ripped the drawing of him as an angel out of her sketchbook, and that he was looking at it now, his sarcastic smirk replaced with a tender smile.

* * *

**The words and their meanings:**

**Acme (n) - the highest point of achievement**

**Adept (adj) - very skillful**

**Aptitude (n) - natural ability; talent**

**Astute (adj) - observant; clever; cunning**

**Finesse (n) - subtle; skillful handling of a potentially difficult situation**

**Painstaking (adj) - demanding extreme effort and care**

**Precocious (adj) - showing unusually early development**

**Prodigy (n) - a person, especially young, with exceptional talents**

**Resourceful (adj) - effective; imaginative; practical in solving problems**

**Virtuoso (n) - a very skilled artist**

**Pleeeease review! (You know you want to!) :) :) :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, here is the third chapter of the vocab stories! Again, the 10 vocab words are underlined and their meanings are given at the bottom. Don't forget to review!**

******Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns the Mortal Instruments series, the ideas, and the characters. I only own the actions and words that were not explicitly described in the books.**

* * *

The Isabelle Special

_Danger lurks everywhere, even in the kitchen._

"Prepare for the Isabelle Special!" Isabelle announced, sweeping her ink-black hair behind her as she added potato chips to the pot of soup.

Jace, sitting at the kitchen table, eyed the pot that was sitting with false innocence on the stove with a wary expression. "Do we have to eat that?"

"Yes." Isabelle dumped a cup of grape juice into the pot, prodding gingerly with a spoon at some of the lumps inside.

"I thought we weren't supposed to have to fight for our lives in the kitchen?"

"Ha. Very funny. You know, Jace," Isabelle turned around to brandish the stirring spoon at him threateningly, not noticing the flecks of avocado that flew across the room at her action, "if you don't like my cooking -"

"I don't –" interjected Jace, flinching away from the avocado bits.

"- then you can go cook your own lunch. This recipe, I'll have you know, is legendary for being extremely savory. You just add the ingredients, and let it simmer. Meliorn told me that it's delicious," Isabelle advertised, as if her faerie knight and (current) boyfriend's word was ironclad fact.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Jace said in a logical manner. "From the pungent smell of this soup, I'm guessing that garlic is in there?"

"Yes," Isabelle replied, turning back to her soup.

"Oh, dear. What else did you put in?"

"Well, there's also avocado, eggs, squid, cucumber, potato chips, soy milk, grape juice, and ketchup. It's going to be a very good soup," Isabelle said defensively. "Hey, Clary," she added, seeing Clary walk into the kitchen.

"In _soup_?!" Clary questioned, aghast. "You put _ketchup_ in _soup_? By the Angel -"

"And potato chips," Jace added helpfully. "Let's not forget the potato chips. Another excellent addition to this culinary delight."

"Yes, thank you, Jace," Isabelle said snippily, stirring the discolored water fiercely. Jace waved a hand airily, as if to say 'You're welcome', which Isabelle ignored. "Anyways, Clary, it's a faerie recipe."

Clary nodded skeptically and backed out of the room, no doubt planning to find a meal for herself somewhere else. Jace, wanting to torture Isabelle some more, stayed, pouring himself a cup of mango juice.

"Isabelle, while I have absolutely no doubt that an extremely ravenous individual would probably happily devour this soup –" He took a quaff of mango juice, sighing loudly in satisfaction. "- I, for one, do not want to try even a morsel of that vile concoction."

Isabelle hurled a butter knife at him, fed up. Jace dodged the cutlery easily, and it stuck, quivering, in the door just as Alec came in, asking "Is lunch ready ye-"

His eyes widened, taking in the scene. Jace was sipping nonchalantly at his glass of mango juice, Isabelle was clutching another knife as she prepared to launch it at Jace, and the pot was bubbling over, spilling avocado-potato chip-ketchup soup on the ground.

Alec yanked the butter knife out of the door. "Good God, I thought Jace was cooking today," he said, obviously horrified.

Isabelle flung the knife at him, too, and he ducked as the knife hit the door and clattered noisily to the kitchen floor. Just then, Clary opened the door, clutching a Taki's take-out bag. "I got lunch," she announced, then stopped as she noticed Isabelle's feral expression, Jace's bland, disinterested look, and Alec's hasty crouch on the ground.

"Did I come at a bad time?" she asked mildly.

* * *

**The words and their meanings:**

**Bland (adj) - calming or soothing; dull or plain**

**Culinary (adj) - related to cooking, or kitchens**

**Cutlery(n) - utensils; cutting instruments**

**Devour (v) - to consume greedily, enthusiastically**

**Morsel (n) - a very small piece; treat**

**Pungent (adj) - strong; sharp; penetrating (especially taste or smell)**

**Quaff (v) - to drink heartily**

**Ravenous (adj) - extremely hungry**

**Savory (adj) - appetizing; flavorful; spicy or salty (not sweet)**

**Simmer (v) - to cook just below a boil; filled with unexpressed emotion**

**Remember, reviews make me very happy! *hinthint :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait between updates! I'll try to revert to my old schedule of updating once every two days, but nothing goes as planned. Maybe I'll update earlier, maybe I'll update later. Sorry! But anyways, here is the fourth chapter of the vocab stories. As always, the words are underlined and their definitions are given at the bottom. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns the Mortal Instruments series, ideas, and characters. I only own what was not explicitly stated in the books.**

* * *

Pandemonium

_How it all began._

_Pandemonium n. 1. Wild uproar or unrestrained disorder. 2. Utter chaos. 3. Hell. 4. The abode of all the demons._

"It's useless," Isabelle declared, throwing herself down into the armchair with a sigh. "It's been three weeks, and our tracking mission's gone stagnant. That demon's always one step ahead of us."

"Not as stagnant as your soups," Jace said, studiously inspecting his fingernails. "The one we had for dinner last night had decomposing potatoes in it. I don't suppose those were part of the recipe?"

Isabelle glared at him, ready to pulverize him. "Do me a favor, Jace? Stick your head through a window."

"No, thanks," Jace replied emphatically. "I have no desire to mar the perfection that is my face."

"Hey," Alec spoke up, trying to get them back on topic by reviewing their information, "What do we know about the demon so far?"

"It's an Eidolon demon, a shape-changer, so it's hard to pin down," Isabelle began. "It's been going into nightclubs, disguised as a teenage partygoer, where it lures its victims, usually female, into the back room."

"What does it seem to want?" Alec asked.

"The eradication of all Shadowhunters, no doubt," Jace replied. "But it's content for now to wreak havoc on the mundane world as well. This one's a nasty one; an especially pugnacious demon. It's already killed four mundies, in four different cities."

"Well, we need to obliterate it completely," Alex declared. "Kill it before it can get the better of another mundie, and then remove any trace it was even there."

"It's my turn," Jace called.

"Whoever gets the opportunity will take it," Alec forestalled the breakout of another argument between his sister and his _parabatai_. Jace looked at him steadily, knowing that Alec wouldn't take the opportunity even if he had it. Alec met his gaze, then looked away. "Where's it's next target?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Jace looked away as well, reverting back to his sarcastic self. "Tomorrow night, the cataclysm that will appear on the news is that the demon's going to try to blight some poor mundie's life, at some club called… Pandemonium."

* * *

**Words and their meanings:**

**Blight (v/n) - to have a negative effect on; to ruin**

**Cataclysm (n) - an intense and violent disaster or change**

**Decomposition (n) - the process of rotting**

**Eradication (n) - the act of tearing out by the roots; completely destroying**

**Havoc (n) - widespread destruction or chaos**

**Mar (v) - to damage the quality of**

**Obliterate (v) - to wipe out completely**

**Pugnacious (adj) - eager to fight**

**Pulverize (v) - to pound or crush into dust**

**Stagnant (adj) - stale/foul from lack of movement, lacking progress**

**Please review, and help me reach my goal of 100+ reviews for a story! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry about that super-long wait! I thought I would be able to start publishing as soon as summer started, but I've spent the last two weeks doing classes and community service. Fortunately, the grueling volunteer work is over so I'll be able to publish again :) **

**But I think I'm going to do something new, which will hopefully solve two things. I'm going to only publish the next chapter after I receive three new reviews, so this will give me time to write the next chapter and (hopefully) get me more reviews :D Thanks for reading, guys :) **

**Special thanks to the extremely talented author LxZrulez for helping me edit this chapter! You're amazing, LxZrulez! :D **

**As always, t****he 10 words we were required to use are underlined, and their meanings are provided at the bottom**

**Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns the Mortal Instruments series, ideas, and characters. I only own what was not explicitly stated in the books.**

* * *

Chaotic Organization

_Jace – 1; Magnus – 0; Casualties: Mangoes, Magnus' sanity_

_Or_

_What really happened when Jace was stuck with Magnus in City of Ashes_

Humming jauntily to himself, Magnus unlocked the door to his loft. As he adjusted his grip on the groceries that the Shadowhunter had requested, he unwound his rainbow-colored scarf and placed it on the coat rack, taking care to not let the ends of the cloth droop onto his normally dusty floor.

"I'm back!" he called. "And I bought mangoes, just like you wanted."

Silence. Then: "Hmm," Jace said enigmatically from the other room.

Magnus frowned, suspicious at the ambiguous response. "What are you doing?" When there was no response, he hoisted the grocery bags up and walked into the room to see for himself.

And was confronted by a baffling sight.

His counters, normally covered with everything he might ever need, were startlingly empty. The papers that he normally kept in heap on the kitchen table were gone, replaced by a smooth white tablecloth, devoid of any sort of _interesting_ colors. His artistic stack of used dishes (which he had once christened the Leaning Tower of Pizza Dishes) had disappeared, and the clothes that he had been spreading around to add color to his already brightly hued room were gone as well.

And the diabolical janitor from Hell, the golden-haired Shadowhunter, was standing in the middle of the appalling cleanliness with his arms folded over his chest, looking smugly at his handiwork.

Thunderstruck, Magnus dropped the bag of groceries, spilling mangoes all over the floor. "What – the _hell_ - have you done?" he demanded, aghast. Jace turned and arched an eyebrow.

"Trying to find some order in this mess," he replied calmly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Magnus's mouth opened and closed a few times, speechless. "But that's _my_ mess that you've ruined!" he cried indignantly when he recovered his ability to communicate.

"It's _your_ mess that I have graciously _volunteered_ to fix."

"But why?" Magnus spread his arms helplessly, indicating the unrecognizable room. "Why would you want everything to be so empty and not -"

"Not a insoluble labyrinth of all your worldly possessions? That's a tough one. A real mystery." The Shadowhunter brushed an invisible speck of dust off his sleeve. "Don't worry, I cleaned the rest of your place, too, except for the entranceway - Oh, good, you got mangoes, excellent."

Magnus briefly cogitated the quandary about the origin of a grinding sound and an acrid burning smell, until he realized that was gritting his teeth rather painfully. As he unclenched his jaw and looked down, he discovered that he had unknowingly set one of the boy's precious mangoes on fire. He couldn't have cared less, except that it would probably burn the rest of the building down, so he extinguished the fire with a crisp clap.

"Would 'the rest of my place' include my room?" Magnus asked after the mango stopped smoking, a dangerous tone in his voice. The boy, obviously in a state of complete disregard for his general welfare, nodded while looking extremely pleased with himself. "_Hell,"_ Magnus swore, dashing to his bedroom and groaning at the sight he was greeted with there.

"Don't worry!" the boy called from the other room. "I moved some of your clothes to inside your wardrobe, sorted first by color and then by the article of clothing."

Magnus could deal with the organization levels later. Right now, he had more pressing matters; he was looking through the wardrobe that Camille had given him, and some – some important, some _vital_ - clothes were missing… "_Some_ of my clothes?"

"Oh, I threw the glittery ones out," Jace replied dismissively.

The horrified shriek that Magnus emitted following that statement was three octaves higher than his normal voice. Chairman Meow yowled, the fur on his back and tail sticking straight up, and bolted out of the room. "JACE LIGHTWOOD," Magnus thundered as the room darkened ominously and blue sparks flew from his fingertips, "YOU KILLED MY GLITTER; PREPARED TO DIE."

The golden-haired demon stuck his head in Magnus' room, then ducked as Magnus chucked the nearest object he had at him. "Calm down, warlock," he said calmly, "I'm just kidding. Your glittery abominations are in a cabinet next to the wardrobe, so they don't spread that ghastly _sparkle_ onto your other tolerable clothing. You see, I'm trying to help."

"How considerate of you," Magnus said sourly, his voice still cracking in extreme displeasure. He threw open the cabinet and sighed in relief as he recognized the intricate swirls of color and glitter on his clothing. Satisfied that those precious items had been more or less unharmed, Magnus allowed his room to be slowly returned to its normal brightness.

"I think I'll do the entranceway now," Jace informed him, and immediately Magnus scrambled to find a way to deter him as he hastily left his room, in case physical restraint was needed to protect his belongings – and his sanity.

"No! No, that won't be necessary – It looks fine the way it is – You've done enough," he stuttered, resisting the urge to add 'damage' at the end.

"It won't be too much trouble, I think," the Shadowhunter replied, surveying the room thoughtfully. "And besides, I'm bored. There's nothing else to do."

"Well, maybe you can do something else," Magnus hedged, trying another tactic. "Do you like watching TV?"

"Not really," Jace said dismissively. "There's no time at the Institute, so I never really watched any TV."

"Well, you have time now," said Magnus, desperately. He quickly ran through his mental inventory of all of the shows he had. Would the Shadowhunter be interested in something as mundane as _Gilligan's Island_? Probably not. Knowing Jace, he'd probably only watch shows such as _The Real Shadowhunters of New York_, or _Sneaking Up with the Shadowhunters_, or _The Shadowhunterette_, or something. "Just watch the TV, Shadowhunter," Magnus entreated.

For a moment, Magnus thought the Shadowhunter was going to refuse. Then, the boy arched a golden eyebrow and shrugged, plopping down on the newly cleaned sofa. Sighing with relief, Magnus handed him the remote control and snapped his fingers, and the television turned on.

After watching the boy flip through the channels for a few moments, Magnus entered his room again to change clothes. He automatically searched for his customary pile at the foot of the bed, but couldn't figure out why it was gone until he remembered that the Shadowhunter had not spared his room. Frowning, he opened the wardrobe and searched for a while in the unfamiliar organization until he located his floor length green silk dressing gown. He pulled it over his silver mesh shirt and black jeans, tied the strings loosely, and hunted for an earring to complement the look. A few minutes of fruitless searching led to him to call out in an annoyed tone, "Jace, where the hell is my jewelry!"

"Blue cabinet, third drawer, left compartment," the Shadowhunter replied crisply, adding, "All of your programs suck. And your clothes."

"We can't all be perfect, my dear, and jealousy ill becomes you," Magnus replied, not as offended as he normally would have been because he had just found his red earring that complemented the green dressing gown well, "You have your organization fanaticism, and I have my flawless taste."

A snort from the living room was his only reply, and the familiar sounds of the show _What Not to Wear_ replaced their conversation for a few minutes. That is, until Magnus noticed another vital component of his room was missing.

"Where did you put my cosmetics bag?" he asked.

"In the bathroom," responded Jace absent-mindedly, seeming enthralled by the poor fashion choices on display in the television.

"Why in the _bathroom?_" Magnus shook his head, confused. "Never mind, don't answer that, I don't want a lecture."

As he headed off to the bathroom, he heard his front door open. Changing direction disappointedly, he strode, make-upless, towards the entranceway to see Alexander, Clary, and the rat-boy standing there.

"Hello, hello," he greeted them. "Alec, my darling." Alec blushed. "Clary. And rat-boy." He swept a bow at the irritated boy. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Clary answered. "We came to see Jace. Is he all right?"

Magnus felt a sympathetic pang as he recognized the convoluted mess of a relationship that Jace and Clary now shared. Trying to crack a joke, he replied, "I don't know. Does he ormally just lie on the floor like that without moving?"

"What – That's not funny," Alec said reproachfully.

"You're so easy to tease. And yes, your friend is just fine." Unfortunately for his apartment. "Well, except that he keeps putting all my things away and trying to clean up. Now I can't find anything. He's compulsive."

"Jace likes things neat," Clary said softly.

"Well, I don't," Magnus replied shortly. "Jace is in there if you want to see him."

He hoped that they would leave soon – and take Jace with them, before the tattered shreds of Magnus' sanity disappeared for good.

* * *

**The words and their meanings:**

**Ambiguous (adj) - unclear**

**Baffle (v) - to confuse**

**Cogitate (v) - to ponder**

**Convoluted (adj) - twisted or complicated**

**Enigma (n) - a mystery**

**Insoluble (adj) - not solvable**

**Intricate (adj) - complicated**

**Labyrinth (n) - a maze**

**Quandary (n - a state of uncertainty**

**Tactic (n) - a strategy**

**I hope you guys liked it! Remember, I won't publish the next chapter until I get three new reviews, so please please review! :D Thanks so much :)**


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